Survey: Islam Least-favored Religion In U.s.

A Muslim Council Blames Coverage Of The World Trade Center Bombing For Some Of The Anti-islam Sentiment.

April 10, 1993|By Chicago Tribune

WASHINGTON — Islam is the least-favored of all religions in America, according to a poll of 900 adults taken since the World Trade Center bombing on Feb. 26.

The American Muslim Council, which paid for the poll and released the results Thursday, blames news-media coverage - specifically coverage of the bombing - for contributing to anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States.

The five suspects arrested in the New York bombing, which killed six people and injured more than 1,000, are believed to be linked to militant Islamic leader Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman in Jersey City, N.J. But investigators have identified no religious motive - in fact, no motive at all - for the bombing.

According to the poll, which was taken about three weeks after the bombing and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points, 36 percent of those questioned viewed Muslims unfavorably, 23 percent viewed them favorably and 41 percent had no opinion.

The pollster found a silver lining in the results. ''The significant finding is that large percentages are not sure or have no opinion about Muslims despite years of negative images,'' said John Zogby, president of the Zogby Group, which conducted the poll. This statistic represents ''a real window of opportunity for Muslims to better integrate themselves into American life,'' Zogby said.

The number of Muslims in the United States has never been settled, but most authorities put it around 5 million and note that Islam is growing rapidly in the country. In contrast, there are about 145 million Christians and 6 million Jews.

Zogby, noting that 42 percent of those polled said they believed there is a tendency to discriminate against Muslims, said this ''clearly shows that Americans are willing to be fair to Muslims.''

The American Muslim Council said the poll, considered the first of its kind, was conducted to see how the bombing would affect people's views. More than 900 adults from the 48 contiguous states were telephoned and questioned about their views on religions, and their responses were broken down according to geographic region, age, education, income and religion.

Twenty percent of those polled said the bombing would negatively affect how they viewed Muslims, while 56 percent believed it would negatively affect how other Americans view Muslims.

The poll showed that 42 percent believe there should be restrictions on the number of Muslim immigrants, and 49 percent said they don't think Muslims in this country should be allowed to take major Muslim holidays off with pay.

''All we ask is that Muslims be treated like everybody else,'' said Abdurahman Alamoudi, executive director of the council.

''If Irish Republic Army terrorists are identified by their national origins and political affiliation, I wonder why the suspects of the twin-tower bombing must be identified by their religious label,'' Alamoudi said, referring to the mostly Catholic IRA.